Colonial Downs 🏇🏾// Sat., Mar. 14, 2026

Happy Saturday & Pi Day! π🥧π

The road to the Kentucky Derby is heating up as we are now less than two months away from the first weekend in May, when the top three-year-olds in Thoroughbred racing will hit the track and try to launch a Triple Crown run. This week, we are headed to New Kent, Virginia, to play the ponies at Colonial Downs.

If you are a diehard Lundin Line reader, you know this track. But if you are new, or don’t follow horse racing as closely, Colonial Downs may not ring a bell. This is only the second year we’ve been at this track at this time of year, as they added this small late-winter meet to host a Derby prep that hands out 50-25-15-10-5 points to the top finishers in 2025.

Today’s card has 10 total races, half of which are stakes, making this a big day for the track—with both an Oaks prep and a Derby prep on tap. The featured races are races eight and nine. In race eight, the ladies hit the track for their Kentucky Oaks prep, and in race nine the colts and geldings will try to shake up the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Unfortunately, we have an early scratch in race eight, leaving just five horses to run. As a result, the points awarded will be reduced by 75%, lowering the distribution to 37.5-18.75-11.25-7.5-3.75. The good news for these fillies is that even with the reduced points, a win catapults the victor into the top 10 and carves a path toward a chance to start on the first Friday in May.

Next up is the Derby prep, where there will be no reduction in points, as we have 10 starters as of this writing. Both of our cappers believe that Butane, trained by Bob Baffert—who is tied for the most Derby wins by a trainer—is going to take down this field today. The winner of this race will vault into the top five on the leaderboard and, with only seven prep races left on the U.S. circuit, will be almost guaranteed a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. Multiple horses in today’s race have already earned prep points, and even just hitting the board today could propel them toward the ultimate goal: starting in the Kentucky Derby.

Today’s weather will be a bit colder than what we’re feeling here on the West Coast, but still warmer than a few weeks ago on the East Coast, with highs in the low 60s and mostly sunny skies. They will not be running on the turf course today—not because of weather, but to preserve the grass for summer racing. The dirt track is rated fast, and with no rain in the forecast, it should stay that way and make for a great surface for our two prep races.

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🏇Road to the KY Derby and KY Oaks 🏇

"Each year 20 horses have the once in a lifetime chance to run in the Kentucky Derby. To earn a spot in the starting gate, they must travel along the Road to the Kentucky Derby, a series of designated races at tracks across the country and around the world. Points are awarded to the top five finishers in each race. The 20 horses with the most points will earn a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May."

-From our friends @ kentuckyderby.com

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Need help picking winners? We've got you covered! Our (Always Free) Lundin Line's top picks and best bets are below. We use them to help narrow the field while putting our tickets together. The first post will be here soon, so don't be late -

It's time to get #InTheMoney! 💰💰💰

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Colonial Downs 🏇🏾 // Sat., Mar. 14th, 2026

First Post @ 12:00 EDT/ 9:00 PDT

R1: 5-2-1

R2: 5-8-6-7

R3: 1-6-5-7

R4: 8-7-3-1

R5Ⓢ: 3-2-6

R6Ⓢ: 1⭑-7-3-6

R7Ⓢ: 7-1-6

🏇R8 Ⓢ/OP:

Fink: 2-1-3

Mr. W. 3-1-2

🏇R9Ⓢ/DP:

Fink: 1⭑-5-6-8

Mr. W.: 1⭑-6-7-4

R10: 7-4-8-6

🏇 = Featured Race(s)

⭑Best Bet(s)

R6: Passage East (#1)

R9: Buetane (#1)

Ⓢtakes Races

R5: 100K Royal Kent S.

1 Miles on Dirt for 4 Yr.-Olds & Up

R6: 100K Sandy Bottom S.

1 Miles on Dirt for Fillies & Mares, 4Yr. Olds & Up

R7: R6: 100K Sandy Bottom S.

1 Miles on Dirt for Fillies & Mares, 4Yr. Olds & Up

R8: 250K Virginia Oaks

1 1/16 Miles on Dirt for Fillies, 3 Yrs. Old

KY Oaks points = 50-25-15-10-5

R9: 500K Virginia Derby

1 1/8 Miles on Dirt for 3 Yr. Olds

KY Derby points = 50-25-15-10-5

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Pi is the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. While the idea of pi has been known for nearly 4000 years, accurately calculating it has been something of slightly more recent mathematical development. By 2000 BC, the Egyptians and Babylonians accurately used the constant to build. Mathematicians such as Archimedes, Fibonacci, François Viète, Adriaan van Roomen, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz all calculated pi by various methods. However, in 1706, Welsh mathematician William Jones introduced the Greek letter π to represent the ratio of a circle's circumference; pi. 

Photo from our friends at National Day Calendar

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/ As always, please forgive any typos and grammatical errors